


Feel a Thought

by uvcatastrophe (wallhaditcoming)



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-06
Updated: 2014-11-06
Packaged: 2018-02-24 08:14:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2574491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wallhaditcoming/pseuds/uvcatastrophe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Samezuki and Iwatobi boys meet up for karaoke in the years after the series end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Feel a Thought

**Author's Note:**

  * For [attemptsonwords](https://archiveofourown.org/users/attemptsonwords/gifts).



> Written for attempts on words, who wanted pre-established makorin karoke fic set in the future.
> 
> Hopefully this hits the spot at least a little.
> 
>  
> 
> Title comes from the Yip Harburg quote "Words make you think. Music makes you feel. A song makes you feel a thought."

Rin flopped himself down onto the booth in the karaoke bar, grinning widely.

“About time you showed up,” a familiar voice groused next to him.

Rin kicked Sousuke in the shin, as was his right. “Shut up. We’re not that late.”

“We’re just surprised Mako and Rinrin showed up at all,” Nagisa chirped from the other side of the room. “We thought you might have decided that you had…” and here he waggled his eyebrows suggestively “better things to do.”

“Nagisa-kun!” Rei said sharply even as he buried his face in his hands in embarrassment. “A modicum of restraint!”

Makoto said nothing, just slipped down into the seat beside Rin and buried his face against Rin’s shoulder. Rin could feel the heat from Makoto’s face even through the fabric of his shirt.  It wasn’t just the embarrassment, though that alone was understandable.

Most of it was grounded in a desire to be close.  The long distance relationship was hard on them both, with Rin in Australia most of the time and Makoto here in Tokyo. The fact that both of them tended toward expressing their affection physically only made it more difficult for both of them. So, while Rin was here, with Makoto, he was content to keep him as close as possible.

“What?” the culprit said, smiling with an innocence that was completely contrary to his true nature. “We were all thinking it. And you can’t really blame them. I mean, I know if I had to choose between sex and karaoke…”

Makoto sat upright at that, for all that his face was still colored bright red. “Nagisa! You know that both Rin and I wouldn’t miss this! We never get to see each other anymore. We wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to see all of you. Not when we so rarely get both Rin and Haru home at the same time.”

Sousuke scoffed. Rin kicked him in the leg again, harder than he had the first time.

“Shut up,” he hissed.

“What did he have to promise you to get you out of bed?” Sousuke asked, quietly enough that only Rin could hear.

Before Rin could give in to the impulse to strangle his best friend, the door to the box opened again, and a familiar refrain of “Rin-senpai!” came from the door as a red-headed blur flung itself into the room and in Rin’s general direction.

Before there was an actual impact, Sousuke was there, arm holding an always overenthusiastic Momo back.

“I’m sorry, Rin-senpai. I tried to hold him back, but…” Ai said, his expression a mixture of embarrassed chagrin and fond exasperation.

“I know how he is,” Rin said with a sharp grin. “And both of you, stop it with the senpai already. We aren’t in school together anymore.”

They spent several minutes catching up, Rin chatting, surrounded by all his high school friends and enjoying hearing what was going on in their lives, his arm around Makoto the entire time. Before long, however, it was time to turn to the main event.

“So, who wants to first?”

“How about we let the lovebirds do it? After they were so good as to grace us with their presence,” Sousuke drawled.

Rin would have glared at him, but there was a reason they picked karaoke as their group activity. It wasn’t just that there were few things a group of eight could easily do together, though that had played a part in their initial decision a few years ago that had started the tradition in the first place. They all enjoyed karaoke, and while none of them were particularly untalented at singing, he and Makoto had skills. It was a fun time for all involved.

And it hadn’t taken much to convince him to come. Rin really did enjoy karaoke night, both for the ability to catch up with all his friends and the chance to enjoy himself singing. And he’d specifically arranged things so that he and Makoto would have a day to themselves to get reacquainted. (The actual day of his flight’s arrival didn’t count, as Rin had been too jetlagged to do much more than plaster himself to Makoto’s side and be dragged through Tokyo before collapsing into Makoto’s bed). Still, that hadn’t prevented him from allowing Makoto to promise him a number of favors in order to get him here.

“Shall we?” Rin asked Makoto, tilting his head towards the stage.

Makoto nodded, the tips of his ears still red from earlier, but for the most part recovered.

They made their way to the stage and paged their way through the songs available. There were several things he and Makoto tended to default to, but there were always new offerings available between visits.

“How about that one?” Rin asked, gesturing towards a title.

Makoto shook his head. “It’s outside my range. We could try, but I don’t really want to strain my voice that much this early in the night. Maybe this one?” he asked, gesturing towards an alternative.

Rin stared at it for a long time, trying to see if he recognized it. Clearly seeing what the problem was, Makoto began humming under his breath.

“Oh, yeah. That one. Sounds fine to me.”

Makoto grinned and keyed in their selection, then passed a microphone over to Rin while taking the other for himself.

Rin lost himself in the rhythm of the music, singing along and watching with rapt attention as Makoto lost himself in the music as well. The shyness, the self consciousness, it all fell away. And it was always beautiful to watch.

When they finished it was to thunderous applause.

Rin gave his cockiest grin, and he knew that Makoto was giving everyone a bashful smile.

They handed over the stage to Rei and Nagisa without fuss, and dropped back into their seats again.

They fell into easy conversation, catching up with all their friends, and once Rin had made as much as headway with Sousuke and the rest of the gang, he found himself making his way over to Haru, unable to resist the urge to needle his longtime friend and rival.

While Rin amused himself trading barbs with Haru, Makoto sat besides Sousuke, the two trading easy conversation about their education, being enrolled in similar programs. Momo looked to them both with enthusiasm for suggestions to pass on to the current captain of the Samezuka team.

After several more duets, they turned to solo sessions. Rin did the only thing he could do when it was his turn, and did his very best to seduce Makoto from the stage. And when it was his turn, Makoto more than returned the favor.

And at the end of the night, the two walked back to Makoto's apartment hand in hand, Rin more than ready to enjoy the rest of his vacation with his boyfriend by his side.


End file.
